Disabling Traps

[Eeza]

So my players came into a room with this trap in it...

Quote:

flesh to Stone Trap

Type spell; Perception DC 31; Disable Device 36
EffECTS
Trigger visual (direct eye contact with mosaic) or touch; Reset automatic
Effect spell effect ( flesh to stone, Fortitude DC 22 negates)

Disable device

Quote:

Disarm Trap or Device

When disarming a trap or other device, the Disable Device check is made secretly, so that you don’t necessarily know whether you’ve succeeded.

The DC depends on how tricky the device is. Disabling (or rigging or jamming) a fairly simple device has a DC of 10; more intricate and complex devices have higher DCs.

If the check succeeds, you disable the device. If it fails by 4 or less, you have failed but can try again. If you fail by 5 or more, something goes wrong. If the device is a trap, you spring it. If you’re attempting some sort of sabotage, you think the device is disabled, but it still works normally.

Special A rogue who beats a trap's DC by 10 or more can study the trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (along with her companions) without disarming it.

Retry? You can retry checks made to disable traps if you miss the check by 4 or less, though you must be aware that you fail in order to try again.

In my game, my trap-finder rolled a natural one but because he has ridiculous modifiers he only failed the save by 3. According to the rules on disable device the trap wouldn't normally go off. However, the trap itself is triggered by touch and/or by eye contact. I find it difficult to believe that a player can attempt and fail to disable a trap without looking or touching it. So I would just like to know how this is suppose to work.

[Manwolf]

The game doesn't really go into the details of this mechanic, as they could be quite varied from one instance to another. In the section on trap building says about magic traps that

A successful Perception check (DC 25 + spell level) detects a magic trap before it goes off.
Magic traps permit a saving throw in order to avoid the effect (DC 10 + spell level × 1.5).
Magic traps may be disarmed by a character with the trapfinding class feature with a successful Disable Device skill check (DC 25 + spell level). Other characters have no chance to disarm a magic trap with a Disable Device check.

Trapfinding feature grants special bonuses to recognize traps without setting them off with a perception check, then disable them.

In your example, it could be something like the rogue saw a sparkle and averted his eyes before making "eye contact", then keeping his eyes averted, he put his cloak over the mosaic to prevent eye contact, careful not to touch it himself, but didn't cover it correctly so it could still be seen, though he hasn't looked at it yet and set it off.

Retry, if successful: Now he noticed that the cloak is stuck on his dagger's hilt and adjusts it to properly drape over the mosaic.

[Byakko]

Eeza wrote:

In my game, my trap-finder rolled a natural one but because he has ridiculous modifiers he only failed the save by 3. According to the rules on disable device the trap wouldn't normally go off. However, the trap itself is triggered by touch and/or by eye contact. I find it difficult to believe that a player can attempt and fail to disable a trap without looking or touching it. So I would just like to know how this is suppose to work.

First, the check you're describing is a Disable Device skill check, not a save. (terminology is important) Skill checks do not automatically fail on a 1, thus the "natural" die roll really doesn't matter.

If the player is attempting to disable the trap, this implies that he's aware that it's there. Thus, he would take the appropriate precautions for the trap in question. In this case, that would include not touching or looking at it. You can explain this in-game however you like... perhaps he's using special gloves or inorganic finger extensions to avoid touching it and a mirror system to avoid looking at it.

Whatever the case, he is such an expect that even on a bad day he is cautious enough not to set the trap off. It may just take him a little more time to finish the task on occasion, depending on the rolls.